[applause] good afternoon welcome and they give you for joining us today on the topic of critical importance. I am president of the United States institute of peace with the critical moment to this serious conflict to threaten not of the regional political will security with the arrival of refugees in europe that there is 60 Million People displaced by conflict and 12 million are syrian. And estimates suggest what quarter have been killed in the civil war today. One of the pressing tragedies of our time United States has been the leading donor of humanitarian assistance over the last five years by growing more bloody and complex by the day the Global Community mr. Jett they Work Together to provide desperately needed civilian production to achieve a meaningful and lasting pay peace with the community and the commitment we read never again turn a blind eye let that systematic violence of human suffering come forward so i am honored to welcome to the u. S. Institute of peace they committed leader and a vocal advocate for diplomacy over his years of Public Service the senate chair and not United States secretary of state thomas secretary kerry knows better of most the value of American Leadership in the importance of Building Partnerships to meet the most pressing challenges tireless in his dedication to peace and security and i understand immediately following this meeting he will get on another plane to head overseas for another round to create peace is in syria. Please join me to welcome secretary kerry to discuss the strategy of policy in syria and his vision for this conflict. [applause] they give very, very much a apologize to be a couple of minutes late and i am delighted to see our friends am pleased it is great period three to be here want to thank for hosting this afternoon to fly long distances which is no less dangerous to walk across twothirds street this institute is a spectacular plays to reach the pivotal age of 30 i say that as some of you may remember not to trust anybody over 30. But given that i am twice that age my message is dont believe everything your tot. [laughter] the truth is under the leadership of nancy and build this institute is hitting its stride as a force for reconciliation and conflict resolution. Increasingly effective and a place where smart and energetic people come to help others and i am confident that will remain the case for many decades to come. Congratulations and then i expect all of you to go back to work. [laughter] another reason i am to be here is stated boldly in the name of this institute of peace. Across the street in the harry truman building there are thousands of men and women whose big about peace and especially but it would mean to the millions of people who live without it including many who have never in their entire lives have actually known it. And as a veteran i personally believe it is as worthy of that of a pursuit the matter how hard it is to achieve the intent is guided by principle or realistic vision is always worthwhile. And i hope they got i did not bother to stop people from killing each other. So it should not be a surprise that peace is the major theme this afternoon with my remarks. These are extremely complicated times end i a appreciate the sharia law summit our leaders will with an agenda that the United States of america is today engaged in more areas of the world with more partners in a time in history that is not exaggeration. Along with the pacific rim we have negotiated a landmark trade pact to buy together 40 of a Global Economy based on Environmental Standards and 21st century rules of the road. Working with local partners with access to appear in Food Security to insure that our success to slow the spread of hiv aids is a stated reaching out to the people of cuba but also working hard with the special envoy to move closer to a solution and to decades of the rebel group in europe we are Standing Firm in support of trade to send a strong message of message of strong message of reassurance to be upheld. We have seen the beginning of what promises to be the most Dramatic Program since the breakup of the soviet union. To destroy the of core of the plutonium reactor to the stockpile of enriched uranium. Finally at the end of this month i will join the president revere determined to negotiate the naturally ambitious to curb the Greenhouse Gas emissions her gore earlier this week to the overseas crisis by food in a water shortages extreme weather events in the movement of people away from various to go lager sustain life. To limit the damage to seize the economic benefits all from those of the transformed energy future. Reply all the stops from the consequences of morsi says san more delays and refusals to acknowledge what is taking place that is unacceptable so it is a lot more a complicated. There are more important subjects we could be discussing into the evening but today at the area of the world in one country that is a concern and that is syria. But humanitarian disaster that is unfolding with over in security and challenges and maturity of young people and their aspirations all of that is the major topic of discussion at the sharia law summit in the meetings that i participate in so i thought this might be a good time to bring you up to speed on the Administration Strategy in syria on decisions made on the actions that we are taking to build on in weeks and months to come. Syria as we know which is not just another country in fact, it is one of the first places that most of us learned about of damascus among the oldest continuously inhabited city is in the face of the earth as part of mesopotamia the cradle of civilization empires have risen and fallen and syria is a commercial crossroads. This is attributed to rich cultural mix the story of modern syria. To usher in the era of limited modernization ended the year 2000 assad was succeeded by his son raising hopes that the new leader chose not to fulfill. From the sparks of the arab spurring begin to ignite not by religious differences by the lack of freedom and jobs that is all they win assad and responded to Peaceful Demonstrations to send in thugs to beat up people when they objected and took to the streets themselves every she replied with bullets having made peaceful change then assad made war inevitable. This gave rise to 86 the gravest extremist rabbi our generation and the embodiment of evil and the results is four and a half years of nonstop or. One in 20 has been wounded or killed when and by as a refugee one at of two has been displaced the average Life Expectancy dropped by 20 years 80 percent of electricity has been knocked out plunging much of the country and the burden of the complex falls most heavily on the smallest shoulders. But the entire Public School system in favor sudden they closed then there are children whose birth in lebanon could not be registered because his parents were separated during the war he is neither syria nor lebanese and there are thousands like him. Those of their growing up in camps many without education in overcrowded apartments without a country to call our own. Make no mistake the longer it lasts the harder it is for the country to recover wounds that could never be true the close. Since i have met by many of those doctors are risking their lives were treating the injured despite constant attacks with threats of abuse soared bitter cold those that emerged with photographic evidence of what was inflected on thousands of victims and a few weeks ago with refugees who had survived the barrel bombs dropped from helicopters making their way to berlin in germany. From the beginning of this crisis that has ben discussed in public but has not been the subject of intense scrutiny. Whenever questions one might have of the content should be no doubt made to be for ending the crisis. That explains what United States supported the United States monitors white un ambassador Samantha Power for the humanitarian relief agencies and though as i became secretary of state and helping them in ways this is why we have worked hard to mitigate the incredible burden of the war displaced of their neighbors are iran, lebanon excuse me iraq. In order to keep the violence from spreading with the macs that massive influx of refugees that has spread beyond their own region into the heart of europe. But to date and as was mentioned we have probably given and attributed more than 4. 5 billion dollars of humanitarian relief and were constantly resorting to other countries to open their watch because as another winter starts the need alloways the supply. And then welcome to our shores of the United States now win assad attacked his own people with these horrific weapons president obama threat of military strikes to back down to enable us to strike a deal of u. N. Security council. But let me tell you something it is plenty good that that happens because you can only imagine the devastation the leaders if they couldnt get their hands on the arsenal of sophisticated chemical arms. Because of the list of crimes it is numbing. Smugglers or kidnappers criminals tablature teachers and burn books to execute journalists to do their jobs and average citizens not pretty debate have said or done before who they are. And what they believe about religion and in iraq dash fighters are off raping women and girls to teach the abuse of under age nine muslim girls is not only acceptable but a form of prayer and expression. En ben to commit homicides and suicides at the same time to pick up sledge hammers to destroy the 1800 your old roman arch ac is the director of antiquities in the Public Square to cut off his head to leave his body tied to a poll. He was 83 years old and was in charge of preserving the Cultural Heritage for more than 50 years. History doesnt matter and Human Dignity doesnt matter in the secret ct is alien to dash their leaders represent everything we fought against everything we have tried to build up that is right and good in all of society we face a fight against medieval and modern fascism at the same time. Let me be clear is that the fight to make on behalf of others. United states does not go and search of enemies. There is times they come in search of us we know that dash means what it says to attack america and attack americans and their interests. So the stakes could not be higher under obama was leadership to take and defeat dash not listed in anything they remain deeply committed to broker a solution and we have said from the beginning is a multiyear effort but as i will describe and we are cleared up the road ahead. This civil war has dragged on more than four years but regrettably but the intractable nature is attributable to a number of factors beginning with the assad government. To be dictatorial rule to choke off the political observation in the sectarian differences that could have worked themselves out bustard beneath the surface and then emerged so suddenly between their rising alarm once side and then might be the case by the involvement of regional actors especially has beloved intervened on the back half of assad and members that cross the International Border to be involved in this by. We face an environment that bears little resemblance of those scenarios that make them easy those that are not accustomed to working with each other but the truth is all those that assad and dash are part of the and then solve problem is directly attributable to the policy of actions that is why we have referred to assad as a magnet for terrorism. There are many that to suppose said enemy is our symbolic that drives thousands of syrians into the arms of dash and fear cause some serious groups to feel they had no other option that is in just symbolic but some biotic each piece designed on the of our that explains the massive refugee crisis today. The relationship between assad and dash that the two extremes have targeted one another. Their enemies far more in theory it neither has shown any interest to bring the killing to an and. Neither the dictator nor the not the answer with an asset an acceptable alternative and to the advent president obama and has set three interrelated goals to begin with dash the president made it clear the fed is states was committed to dismantle the terrorist organization and. To pick up the pace to move forward for a degrading and defeating dash more rapidly were completely and probably to intensify that efforts to bring an end to the civil war in syria. Because of its stability by the serious crisis does not spend further beyond the borders. These measures are mutually reinforce civil. The more progress we make on one the will likely be are to succeed of the others. President obamacare has made his clear view that it cannot be resolved and that remains the case but it is also clear that successful diplomacy depends on part to research leverage who is beating or has the upper hand. With the increasing evidence of iraq and syria that dash can be defeated or routed when faced with a combination of Coalition Airstrikes and effective partners on the ground. This coalition has only been together 14 months last summer it did not even exist. The call the issue has already made a huge difference to save peoples lives that evidence is there for everyone to see. From iraq and syria and the number is rising every day there are more than 40 just last night with another vital facility while preventing a terrorist assault on baghdad. We have driven dash from the critical border town predicting it would fall and how terrible that would be ended and fall because we stepped up and reinforced to provide that capacity and people could fight back. We have seen to creaked liberated to see the population about 100,000 people to rebuild their communities. In today as we sit here allied forces is are the berated to cut off highway 47 that is the main artery from syria into iraq. Including the deployment of thousands of american advisor to trade and assist Iraqi Security forces we have degraded their top leadership including the second in command and we continue to eliminate commanders and other personnel from the battlefield overall is unable to operate and to defy of the territory controlled one year ago and readjust Getting Started me know more about the enemy and what has worked and what has not and what can work for gore the president s direction and those lessons in mind were stepping up the strategy in all aspects and its director supplying partners with armored bulldozers ended put it to break down the defenses around the key city of for body. As they speak they have a calibrated effort to retake the city. Promote a fully sovereign stable and sell for a while i and an inclusive iraq that is securing its border and able to secure its people. They broadly supported diplomatic process and begin to deescalate the process. It would give the Syrian People real choice, not between ashad and the, but true tent transition in which they will have a a voice. That is why another core element of our strategy in syria is diplomatic. The renewed political initiative, broader and more action oriented to isolate the terrace and set syria on the path to peace. This possibility was the focus of meetings in vienna at the end of last month. Meetings, that for the first time, brought together all the Key International interested parties to the very same party. Table. Guess what. It came out with the product. That session produced to communicate by every country attended and those countries that dont tend to agree on much, but they do agree that dash is evil and the war in syria must be brought to an acceptable and as soon as possible. More specifically the countries represented in vienna agreed to support syrias unity and independence and integrity and their pluralistic character. We agreed, all of us that dash and other groups have to be defeated. We agreed, all of us that syrias state institutions should remain intact we dont have the implosion that we saw in iraq. We saw and all agreed, that the rights of all syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination have to be protected in whatever government comes out. We agreed, all of us that actions for humanitarian relief has to be assured throughout the country and that will be one of the topics we talk about on saturday. We agreed, all of us, to increase support for internally displaced persons and refugees and for the countries that post them. We agreed, all of us, that the un should convene members of the Syrian Government and the Syrian Opposition to develop a plan along the lines of the 2012 geneva communicate leading to a incredible, incredible, nonsectarian governance followed by a new constitution and by free and fair transparent, accountable elections run under the supervision of the United Nations with the highest standards of elections anywhere in the world. We agreed on that. All of those. We agreed to explore the possibility of a nationwide ceasefire. To be initiated in parallel with this renewed political process. Obviously, such a ceasefire does not include dash. It is our effort to defeat dash and the efforts of our partners to defeat dash and we will continue until we prevail. It is precisely through this political process that we can, for the first time, if it works, marshall the support of the entire International Community against a single common enemy. Dash. I want to be clear. The Syrian People will be the validators of this whole affair. The un voice has met with representatives from more than 230 syrian groups. We have also been in constant communication with syrian repre